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In warfare, they say that the same army can behave radically differently under different types of leadership. The philosophy tends to percolate down the hierarc

In warfare, they say that the same army can behave radically differently under different types of leadership. The philosophy tends to percolate down the hierarchy pretty fast. I'm reminded of how Orson Scott Card said that part of Ender's Game was inspired by the struggle to find a general who could lead the Union army during the civil war (not sure why I mentioned that -- it felt relevant).

einhverfr 13y ago
I am not sure that armies and corporations are that similar in this regard. I was working at Microsoft as a blue badge when Gates retired from the position of CEO and there was effectively no change in corporate culture. To the extent they are similar, I think there is something to be said about faith in leadership. If the workers don't trust the leaders and vice versa, that has an immediate impact in this sort of thing, but beyond that, it is the interpersonal connections that have developed that define corporate culture.
- brg 13y ago
  I too was a blue badge during that time, but I think there were three changes that happened when Gates slowly faded out of the company. The company lost focus on Windows desktop applications, the culture pivoted towards business strategy instead of engineering strategy, and quality of both the people and the products declined. As to losing focus, part of this is because the re-orgs and company policy changes accelerated. At least every two years in the last decade there has been a major shift in branding or focus. This is something decided by the management team, and Ballmer was directly responsible for these constant shifts in direction. Second, the role of SDE and senior SDE was even more marginalized. I am sure this had been going on, but for a data point note that BillG reviews were run by PMs. The engineering culture was gone and replaced by a business culture. PMs and MBAs ruled every org; they talked about their resources and looked at the SDE-L and SDE-M as line managers whose were there to make their designs reality. This served to push out the more motivated engineers. And speaking of BillG reviews, these were real and helpful. After a review, we would talk about it for days. Products would be re-aligned, schedules would change, and we would be focused on shipping a great product. When these were gone, Ballmer's business strategy approach failed to motivate or align the teams and that had a drastic affect on quality.

einhverfr 13y ago

I am not sure that armies and corporations are that similar in this regard. I was working at Microsoft as a blue badge when Gates retired from the position of CEO and there was effectively no change in corporate culture. To the extent they are similar, I think there is something to be said about faith in leadership. If the workers don't trust the leaders and vice versa, that has an immediate impact in this sort of thing, but beyond that, it is the interpersonal connections that have developed that define corporate culture.

brg 13y ago
I too was a blue badge during that time, but I think there were three changes that happened when Gates slowly faded out of the company. The company lost focus on Windows desktop applications, the culture pivoted towards business strategy instead of engineering strategy, and quality of both the people and the products declined. As to losing focus, part of this is because the re-orgs and company policy changes accelerated. At least every two years in the last decade there has been a major shift in branding or focus. This is something decided by the management team, and Ballmer was directly responsible for these constant shifts in direction. Second, the role of SDE and senior SDE was even more marginalized. I am sure this had been going on, but for a data point note that BillG reviews were run by PMs. The engineering culture was gone and replaced by a business culture. PMs and MBAs ruled every org; they talked about their resources and looked at the SDE-L and SDE-M as line managers whose were there to make their designs reality. This served to push out the more motivated engineers. And speaking of BillG reviews, these were real and helpful. After a review, we would talk about it for days. Products would be re-aligned, schedules would change, and we would be focused on shipping a great product. When these were gone, Ballmer's business strategy approach failed to motivate or align the teams and that had a drastic affect on quality.